Signing of the UN Charter. Delegates from various nations sign the UN Charter. Even before celebrations for the end of World War II began in Europe, delegates from 51 nations convened a 63-day conference in San Francisco that established the UN, the organization dedicated to maintaining world peace. The creation of a world body had been proposed by the United States in 1942, and its foundations had been laid at the Allied conference held in Washington in 1944. In April 1945, the international conference convened in California culminated in the signing of the Charter. The first meeting of the UN General Assembly was held in London in early 1946.
